Brownstein: Terry and Ted return to brighten up newly relaunched Just for Laughs

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The newly relaunched Just for Laughs has reached into the festival’s glory days of yore to bring back the hosts of one of the event’s most popular and enduring series, the Montreal Show.

For 18 years, local radio legends Terry DiMonte and Ted Bird — who had brightened up the lives of Montrealers in tandem as morning-show announcers on CHOM and Mix 96 — were at the helm of this JFL staple showcasing an array of up-and-coming local wits.

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But for the last 18 years, one of the biggest complaints from JFL aficionados was the absence of both the Montreal Show and its popular hosts. Now the situation has been partially rectified: DiMonte and Bird are back and will be hosting the first Comedy Nest Presents the Soda Series, Friday at 7 and 10 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Club Soda.

It was just two months ago that Quebec City’s ComediHa! purchased the assets of the financially beleaguered Just for Laughs festival and assumed control of the event here. And it was only in May that ComediHa! president Sylvain Parent-Bédard announced the festival was going to relaunch its anglo portion under the Just for Laughs banner to run from July 18 to 28.

In addition to bringing back the likes of serial JFL visitors Bobby Slayton, Dane Cook and Iliza Shlesinger — the latter two who are performing free outdoor concerts on, respectively, Saturday and Sunday at the Quartier des spectacles — the festival also arranged for the return of DiMonte and Bird.

This new series won’t entail a singular focus on Montreal standups but will rather serve as a showcase for stellar comics from around the continent like Nathan Macintosh, Erin Jackson, Moody McCarthy, Vladimir Caamano, Brandon Ash-Mohammed and hometown jokester Gino Durante.

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“This feels just so good and so right,” says DiMonte, holding court with Bird, Durante and Comedy Nest co-owner David Acer inside the comedy club. “There was something about the Montreal Show back then. There were much bigger names in town at the festival back then, but that show had its feet planted in the city and gave rise to some incredible careers for locals. Now many of those comics can hold their own with the best anywhere in a series like this.”

“It’s fun to get up any time on stage, especially with Terry, and back then, it was really good for us as a morning radio show for our brand,” adds Bird, who has been dabbling in standup himself over the last few years.

Neither DiMonte nor Bird are doing local radio these days but both have teamed up to do Standing By: The Terry and Ted Podcast over the last few years.

Acer is thrilled to have landed DiMonte and Bird as hosts as well as to have orchestrated this inaugural series for JFL.

“Club Soda is an iconic venue in Montreal, which has been strongly associated with the English side of the Just for Laughs Festival,” says Acer, also an acclaimed comic and magician. “We are very proud to present this series, which necessitated a venue the size of Club Soda to accommodate the expected crowds.”

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Acer had very little time to program the series but has nonetheless put together a surprisingly impressive lineup rather quickly.

American wits Jackson, McCarthy and Caamano all have solid bona fides on the club and late-night TV talk-show circuit. Canuck Ash-Mohammed has made his mark Amazon’s Last One Laughing and CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

And Macintosh, the ginger-haired wonder from Nova Scotia’s apple country, is as funny and fresh a wit as any in the comedy universe as those who have caught him on the Colbert and Kimmel shows can attest. Having worked his way up from an unpleasant gig at a fast-food franchise, Macintosh has lamented he had to break up brawls therein and notes there are never any fights at health-food restos, because “no drunk ever walks in and asks for an arugula salad.”

Durante’s forte is also observational comedy.

“Yes, it took a bankruptcy to bring Terry and Ted back,” a deadpan Durante quips, in relating the fall and new rise of Just for Laughs and the return of the two hosts.

DiMonte notes that in addition to locals, the Montreal Show also attracted some notable comics from outside.

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“Jerry Seinfeld popped by one night to try out some new material. Not to take any credit, but his career really took off after that show,” DiMonte muses.

Despite the crash of the original JFL, Acer insists these have actually been boom times for comedy here.

“The Comedy Nest programs 52 weeks a year. And it’s not just us. There’s now lots of comedy events going on around town,” he says. “There is a new wave of standup in Montreal right now in a range of styles we haven’t seen in over 20 years. I think we’re experiencing a bit of a renaissance.

“We didn’t have any inkling about the challenges the festival was facing and were just as surprised as everyone about what happened. But there is now an electricity about this summer’s festival and even more so for its future.”

Bird concurs: “Everyone loves to laugh. And standup comedy is still the best bang for your entertainment dollar … not even close.”

Adds Acer: “Standup comedy has an ability to be incredibly relevant, topical and immediate. And that’s something no other art form shares in these volatile times.”

AT A GLANCE: Comedy Nest Presents the Soda Series, Friday at 7 and 10 p.m. and Saturday at 10 p.m. at Club Soda, 1225 St-Laurent Blvd. Hosts are Terry DiMonte and Ted Bird and featured are Nathan Macintosh, Erin Jackson, Moody McCarthy, Vladimir Caamano, Brandon Ash-Mohammed and Gino Durante. Tickets are $29.25 and are available at clubsoda.ca or by calling 514-286-1010.

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

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